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Blog - November 2006 |
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This page stores my blog entry from November 2006. The entry is from November 5.
A Half Gallon of Beer: The End of the Softball Season / Tower Purchases: My Buys and Eventual Tribute / White Mouse: RIP Sunday, November 5, 2006 About a week ago, our softball coaches (both are co-workers of mine) treated us to beer at a local sports bar. They initially said they'd buy us beer if we won a game (outside of the forfeit, we failed in our last chance, losing 22-10), but one of them said he's buy us beer anyway. So, off on a Monday night, just in time for football, I sat down with one of my coaches with my prize for playing my heart out: 32oz of Coors. Yes, Coors. I have long championed the nectar that is Guinness, scoffing at mass-produced American "brew", and even using old Budweiser to water my plants. But I saw a chance to try something different (Budweiser failed the Dave test some time ago; Samuel Adams also failed it, though I was a bit young at the time). I recalled that my parents drank Coors when young and at lean times in their life, so I took a shot at that. I liked it! It really didn't have any flavor to it, which would be a good thing if eating certain foods. It may not be something I'd normally choose to drink, but if someone else is buying, I have a good, cheap choice. A quart of beer seemed like a lot, especially when I had not eaten enough for lunch and hadn't had dinner. With Pam driving and little bits to snack on, I felt I'd be fine. Other players showed up and pulled up a mug. We talked about the football game and gossiped about the softball season and what we liked and disliked about it. Though we didn't like the fact that we didn't win a single game, some of us felt satisfied with the fact that we did improve greatly by the end of the season. A couple of others came in. Eventually the other coach came in, took notes on what people were drinking, and came back with beers all around ... including another quart of beer for me. Realizing that drinking a half gallon of beer on a near-empty stomach on a Monday night would not be a bright idea, Pam and I got more food. Jalapeno poppers, hot wings, and other appetizers hit the spot, but I think their greasiness helps drinkers alone. Pam ate some but didn't drink, and she didn't feel all that great afterwards. More football, more softball, and more general conversation later, I finished both barrels of beer and headed home (with Pam as designated driver). It had been a nice season of softball. I had my very good games and my average games. I injured myself twice (yes, both times on the same leg) and missed two games because of it. Although I felt very frustrated with the playing time and not starting, I found peace with the situation and played my hardest despite how I might have felt. I heard rumors of wanting to field a team for a different league this spring. Hopefully I'll be available for it. ********** ********** "My yellow in this case is not so mellow - "Bold as Love" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
While not finding the new 3-volume release of the Annotated Sherlock Holmes, I settled on a couple of CDs to further solidify my back catalog: Band of Gypsy's self-titled album (Jimi Hendrix, Billy Cox, and Buddy Miles live at the Fillmore East) and Van Halen's "Fair Warning". I wanted to get the third Van Halen album, and I thought that album was it. I found out later that "Women and Children First" came before that. That other album has some of my favorite Van Halen songs of all time ("Everybody Wants Some"). I wanted to further explore Hendrix and all he did, and this felt like a natural progression after digesting the three Hendrix Experience albums in full. With the Band of Gypsys album, I finally feel like I'm growing into the huge Hendrix fan as I always saw myself. I've heard "First Rays of a New Rising Sun", but I need to buy that album, along with "Blues", "BBC Sessions", that purple box set, and the various concert CDs out there. One of these days, I'll spend all day laying on the floor, staring up in a dark or low-lit room, listening to Hendrix albums and feeling naturally "Experienced" ("not necessarily stoned, but beautiful"). As I get older, I'm finding more appreciation for Sammy Haggar. I may eventually get the Sammy-era Van Halen albums. First, I need to get all of the DLR-era ones. When I got to see Sammy Halen a year or two ago, I rather liked Sammy's performances. For my final purchase at Tower, I want to buy Guns N' Roses "Appetite for Destruction". Granted, I have it already in both cassette and CD, but the CD version I have is slightly censored (it lacks the infamous "rape scene" artwork; all lyrics on the CD are intact). I unknowingly bought a censored version from a little hole-in-the-wall CD place that used to be on the corner of Arden and Eastern. I think I bought it used. I bought my first copy of this album on cassette from the Tower on Watt along with Digital Underground's "Sex Packets", and I kind of want to emulate that as a final farewell. I'm unlikely to buy the Digital Underground album (that is, if I could find it at a Tower at this point). Interestingly, the Band of Gypsys album will hold the place of "Sex Packets" well enough. I remember reading the insert to "Sex Packets" and wondering why they credited Jimi Hendrix. I didn't hear any parts that sounded like him or like anything from him that I had heard at that point. Just last Saturday, I put in the Band of Gypsys' album, and when the bass rumbling in the background of Hendrix's guitar doodles on "Who Knows" hit full effect, my jaw dropped. I now knew exactly where and on what song Shock G and crew lifted Hendrix (he used parts of "Who Knows" for the song "The Way We Swing"). So, with this revelation, I will declare the Band of Gypsys' album as being a suitable placeholder for "Sex Packets" in my tribute to my final purchase at Tower. ********** ********** I got to witness a part of nature today. While carrying things from my car to my apartment, a resident cat paced back and forth around a set of bushes under my neighbor's window. It excitedly paced from one side to another. Out of curiosity, I looked around and shook a branch, and I found the item of the cat's interest: a little white mouse. I don't know from where this mouse came, but I knew that I didn't want it living around here or in my apartment. I left the cat to its fun and went inside to a day filled with NFL football and a couple of cool games. Later in the evening and between games, I headed out to check on something for Pam. I wondered what happened to the little mouse. I didn't have to look very far to find out: the little white mouse lay dead on the walkway. I felt kind of sad since it looked like a common mouse that a kid would have as a pet. |
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